The Mediahood of all Receivers

Arguing with Signposts posted a provocative entry on 03Sep04 (that's how we did dates when I was in the Army) entitled The Media Reformation. I linked to it (at "Protestant Reformation") in my last post, but I'd like to quote more of it here.

One of the core doctrines of the baptist strand of the Christian faith is the "priesthood of all believers." This is a doctrine that flows from the Protestant Reformation which essentially says that all believers act as their own "priest," able to approach God individually.

This is in contrast to the traditional Catholic understanding, whereby individual believers must seek absolution for their sins through the priest, who acts as a "go-between" for the believer to God. The Catholic understanding was based in the old testament Jewish practice, where one priest was allowed to enter the Holy of Holies in the Temple, representing the entire nation of Israel.

In the rise of the blogosphere, and alternatives to the mainstream media (like Talk Radio), I see a "Media Reformation" taking place.

This is becoming evident in something I am calling the "Mediahood of all Receivers."

No longer are the professional journalists the "priests" of the temple of information. Rather, information receivers are able to go around the media to access information on their own. But more than that, individual receivers are able to publish their own thoughts, in effect "becoming" the media.

As someone with both Baptist and Quaker roots, this certainly resonates with me.